AN NCS PREMIERE: FRIISK — “DEM WIND ENTGEGEN”

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Jun 042021
 

 

The German black metal band Friisk made a strong impression with their first EP, De Doden van’t Waterkant, in 2018. They followed that last year with a split release, joined by the French band Loth, but they’ve mainly devoted their creative energies over the last two years to the development of a debut album. Entitled …un torügg bleev blot Sand, it has now been announced for release on July 2nd via Vendetta Records.

Friisk draw inspiration from the landscapes of the East Frisian region in which they live — and the lyrics themselves were written in German, Low German, and the Sater Frisian dialect — as well as from a need to confront the negative experiences of individual human beings, and to explore in cathartic fashion the realities of fear, devastation, depression, illness, and death.

The resulting music, as displayed on the new album, is emotionally powerful on multiple levels. It surges with ravaging intensity, hostile and assaulting. But at least equally, the music is also atmospheric. In its melancholy melodies it provides an authentic reflection of the unavoidable emotional damage that’s inherent in the human condition, yet also points the way to the possibility of hope.

We have a great example of these facets of Friisk’s music in the gripping and intensely memorable song we’re premiering today: “Dem Wind entgegen“. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GRAVERIPPER — “RADIATED REMAINS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jun 032021
 

 

Indiana’s Graveripper are open and obvious in their admiration of Germanic thrash, but equally attracted to the stylings of early Norwegian black metal, as well as the rollicking riots of first-wave black metal. As the band’s founder, vocalist/guitarist Corey Parks has quipped, “We’ve described ourselves as if Exodus and Kreator had a kid and Immortal babysat frequently. We’ve received comparisons to Venom, Toxic Holocaust, and Skeletonwitch, which I can see. I think there is a lot of Midnight in there, and bands like Bonehunter, Bewitcher — all that.”

Of course, it’s one thing to tick off all those influences and another thing to witness how well Graveripper have drawn together the ingredients of ’80s death/thrash, blackened speed metal, and savage rock ‘n’ roll — while also incorporating dark and memorable melodies so seamlessly into their blood-rushing onslaughts.

And witness it you shall, because today we’re presenting a full stream of the band’s explosive and moving new EP, Radiated Remains, the day before its release by Wise Blood Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): THE NEGATIVE BIAS — “TAPEWORM PYRAMIDS”

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Jun 032021
 

 

Narcissus Rising, the second album by the Austrian band The Negative Bias, was released almost two years ago — though due to the pandemic time-dilation effect it seems like two decades ago. That album, which we enthusiastically premiered and reviewed here in advance of its release by ATMF, opened many eyes to the band’s impressive but unsettling talents. We wrote then:

“The new album by the Austrian alchemists The Negative Bias is so ambitious in its conception, so extravagant in its composition, and so tremendously powerful in its execution that it merits the often-overused term “visionary”. It becomes a form of breathtakingly dramatic musical theater that seems calculated to create shock and awe, to assault and bedazzle the senses, forcibly shattering commonplace perceptions in order to make the mind more receptive to new and unexpected visions.”

It was thus exciting to learn that The Negative Bias had recorded a new EP for release this year, and today we have the pleasure of presenting a full stream of that EP — entitled Tapeworm Pyramids — the day before its issuance via Vendetta Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CIRCLE OF SIGHS — “NARCI”

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Jun 022021
 

 

This coming Friday, June 4th, Metal Assault Records will release Narci, the second album by the anonymous international collective known as Circle of Sighs, and today we bring you a full stream of all its wonders — and the wonders are indeed manifold.

“Progressive-synth-doom” is a label you might have seen for their constantly surprising music, but that barely scratches the surface. More revealing are the PR characterizations which drop references to glitch-pop, prog rock, dark jazz, industrial gaze, and grindcore influences, or which remark upon the band’s exploration of “the outer reaches of metal’s avant garde”. Not for naught is the album recommended for fans of such disparate groups as Yob, Tubeway Army, Pallbearer, King Crimson, Depeche Mode, Thomas Dolby, Brian Eno, and Neurosis — and that’s not nearly an exhaustive list. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NOCTAMBULIST — “ENGULFED”

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Jun 022021
 

 

(Nathan Ferreira introduces our premiere of a track off the new album by Denver-based Noctambulist, which will be released by Willowtip Records on July 2nd.)

It’s difficult to stand out in any style of music, but that challenge is heightened for The Barren Form – first impressions of it will bring to mind the claustrophobic fretwork of Portal distilled into the blistering intensity of Hate Eternal. Such overstimulating qualities don’t tend to leave a lot of room for dynamics, and on top of that, Noctambulist like to write slabs of 6+ minutes of chaotic cacophony. The few moments you do get to breathe are barely able to be savored before a song powers into another turbulent assault, highlighted by the mind-boggling speed and stamina of drummer Michael Nolan.

The musicianship on The Barren Form is top-notch, as is expected from a Willowtip Records release, but what is striking about Noctambulist is how much emotion they can inject into a suffocating, abstruse template. A couple of staccato chops at the right time hammers the riffs in deep, and the guitars themselves don’t tend to noodle around the fretboard a lot – either that or it’s muffled amidst the discordance. What then emerges are jagged, unsettling chords that simultaneously release tension as it’s built.

Where contemporaries in this realm of death metal might focus more on snaking subtleties and enhancing the overall creepiness and confusion, Noctambulist are fast, heavy, and fucking loud. It feels like everything is just coming at you all at once, with a roomy, modern production job giving proper balance so no one element is neglected. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ARTACH — “SHE GATHERS LEAVES”

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Jun 012021
 

 

You would be forgiven if you got the wrong idea about the music of Artach based on their location and some of the ideas that inspire their approach to black metal. This duo hail from St. John’s, Newfoundland, a place they describe as “the coldest, windiest, snowiest, foggiest, provincial capital city in Canada”, a location that would “give many Norwegian cities a challenge for gloomiest weather”.

Moreover, many of their songs are about nature, and many of those involve winter. Their 2020 debut album was entitled Chronicles of a Black Winter, and their forthcoming sophomore full-length, Sworn To Avenge, includes such song titles as “Ice Throne”, “Endless Tundra” (an epic 20-minute exploration about the doomed Franklin expedition of 1846), and “Into the Frozen Woodlands”.

But if you’re expecting naught by icy grimness, think again. As you’ll discover from the song we’re premiering today through a lyric video, Artach’s music is equally capable of discharging full-throttle fieriness, maniacal fervor, and a feeling of visceral lust. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: DANTALION — “TIME TO CLOSE THE CIRCLE”

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Jun 012021
 

 

On July 31st the Spanish label Darkwoods will release the eighth album by the powerful Galician band Dantalion. Bearing the name Time to Pass Away, and adorned by the cover art of the great Russian artist Vergvoktre and further artwork by el dios perezoso, it represents a return to the band’s black metal roots (as well as the spectacular return of Sanguinist as the vocalist).

Today it’s our privilege to help spread the word about the new album by premiering a gripping video for its first single, “Time To Close the Circle“, which is being digitally released today as a stand-alone track. The dark emotional power of the song is undeniable, and so is its blood-rushing intensity. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BECERUS — “PRIMEVAL IGNORANTIA”

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May 312021
 


Becerus co-stars

Goat mosh pit!

Hold that thought for a minute.

Back in February you might have caught our premiere of a track named “Primeval Ignorantia” off Homo Homini Brutus, the thoroughly killer debut album by the Sicilian death metal band Becerus. If you did check out that song, or the album as a whole, then you already know that the music of Becerus is surprising in more ways than one.

It’s surprising, first, because this group sound a lot more seasoned than their newcomer status would suggest. But it’s also surprising because there’s more going on in their songs than brutish caveman bludgeoning, which is what some of the outward trappings of the band might lead you to guess.

But if you didn’t catch that previous premiere and have failed to discover the album (shame on you!), you’ll get to experience these surprises for the first time, because today we’re presenting a video for that same song — and it’s a highly entertaining video, one that make clear that these dudes don’t take themselves too seriously, even though their music delivers a serious ass-kicking. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RUACH RAAH — “SKULLS CRACKED”

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May 282021
 

 

In your searching for new metal, if you need to check off boxes like “melodic”, “nuanced”, “forward-thinking”, “intricate”, or “soulful”, you should probably stop reading right now. On the other hand, if adjectives like “filthy”, “feral”, “primitive”, “carnal”, and “ferocious” are on your list, you’ve come to the right place.

With vitriol surging in torrents through their veins and no regard for the well-being of their listeners, the Portuguese black metal band Ruach Raah (now stripped down to a duo) are returning with their third album, Misanthropic Wolfgang, which is set for release by Signal Rex on June 30th. Based on the music, we’re guessing that the title isn’t an homage to Mozart but is instead a contraction of “wolf gang”. They do indeed sound like wolves on the hunt, racing their listeners into the ground with teeth bared — or maybe more accurately igniting a desire among listeners to run with them on their wild romps.

And make no mistake, as abrasive, rabid, and riotous as the music is, it’s primally infectious stuff — which you’ll discover through today’s premiere of the new album track “Skulls Cracked“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): RIEXHUMATION — “THE FINAL REVELATION OF ABADDON”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
May 262021
 

 

After releasing a pair of demos and an EP from 2012 through 2017, the Italian death metal band Riexhumation then turned their energies to the creation of a debut album that’s now set for release by Lavadome Productions on this coming Friday, May 28th — and it turns out to be a big, eye-opening surprise that should be greedily welcomed by death metal connoisseurs.

It’s not as if this quartet are green newcomers — in addition to those three previous Riexhumation releases, a glance at their resumes on Metal-Archives shows their involvement in other noteworthy extreme metal collectives — but this album is still a most impressive accomplishment.

To borrow some of the (accurate) words from the PR material, it embraces primeval and frightening energies that “dwell somewhere deep within the chasms of the cosmos” to create “ominous, old school death metal darkness” that’s alternately “doom-laden, eerie, raw, and blistering”. It evokes anguished dread, instinctual terrors, and visceral thrills in equal measure, and does so with admirable song-writing dynamism and instrumental execution. Continue reading »

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